(CNN) -- The touchdown catch that wasn't. The first
touchdown interception. The inaccurate reception. Whatever you call it,
don't call the controversial call by replacement refs in the Green Bay
Packers-Seattle Seahwaks game a catalyst for the tentative labor deal
with National Football League referees, Commissioner Roger Goodell said
Thursday.

"It may have pushed the
parties farther along, but we were really in intensive negotiations for
the last two weeks," Goodell told reporters in a conference call
Thursday to discuss the agreement, reached late Wednesday.

Goodell also said he was
sorry the league felt it had to resort to the replacements, few of whom
had any previous NFL officiating experience. Many were high school or
low-level college officials who hold down myriad other jobs, from
schoolteachers to attorneys.

At the same time, he
declined to criticize the replacements despite weeks of botched calls
that raised the ire of fans nationwide.